The Guardian Demon
by ColineTurner
Summary: Cole managed to return from the Wasteland for the second time, but it's not for Phoebe. He has his daughter now to take care about and a strong witchdemon is not easy to deal with! But the help will arrive soon... Eventually PC! Pleease review!
1. Default Chapter

A little girl sat up on her bed abruptly, panting, her face wet with tears. In a second footsteps were heard and a tall dark-haired man entered the room. He carefully approached the bed and sighed noticing his daughter's state. 'Having that nightmare again'  
The girl nodded silently, still reliving the recent horror. The man sat down on the side of the bed and put his arms round the girl protectively. She sniffled and hid her face in his chest.  
'Shh, everything's okay, you're safe'  
He cursed inwardly. She hadn't had these nightmares for a long time and he hoped they'd cease at all but the recent demon attack triggered the whole thing again. At least he wanted to think it was the attack because if the Avatars had finally found them... he didn't know if anything could help them. But first of all he had to soothe his daughter.  
'Do you want me to stay with you'  
'Please' she whispered.  
The man lay down holding his child against his chest. She cuddled up to her father trembling slightly, in search of safety and reassurance. After some time her breath steadied, he thought she must be falling asleep. He started when she suddenly said:  
'I wonder if I'll ever see her face'  
'What'  
'The face of that woman in my dream. I never see her, I only hear her voice and the voices of another two. And then everything goes black'  
'Let's hope you'll never see this nightmare again'  
But she shook her head:  
'No, I will. It was that dream'  
That dream. He stiffened. The dream of being killed before even being born. Being killed by her own mother. Most of all he wished his little girl wouldn't have to deal with her parents' mistakes, would never learn the truth about her mother. But it was difficult to let go of the past. It kept haunting him - and his daughter. She'd already had several premonitions about the future and there was a possibility one day she would see her past as well. And that was going to be the most terrible day in his life.  
The man looked down at his daughter and saw that she had fallen asleep clinging tightly to his arm. Bitterness rose in his heart.  
'Damn you, Phoebe Halliwell. You had every right to kill me but our daughter isn't guilty of anything. How could you do this to her? How could you believe the Seer's lie?' No answers. And no remedy for his pain. And another sleepless night for Cole Turner. 

Phoebe Halliwell couldn't sleep. And frankly speaking, insomnia was not new to the witch since she received her empathic power. Time and again she felt outbursts of others' emotions and though she had learned to shut them off, they still echoed somewhere at the back of her conscience and made her feel moody. The nagging sensation that awoke her now, however, had already become familiar. More than once had Phoebe sat on her bed like that unable to neither quell it nor drive away and she knew that the only way was to wait. It usually didn't last more than an hour and then she could be almost sure it wouldn't bother her for several days at least. In fact, last time the break lasted for almost a month and Phoebe sincerely hoped the fits would stop at all, but her hope proved to be vain. Once more she was sitting now and staring in the darkness and trying not to let the wrench take over her. Because then - and she knew that for sure - nothing would be able to stop the flow of bitter memories she was trying to forget so hard. She wasn't ready to face her past yet... and wondered if ever would be.

That morning Piper was really pissed off. Yesterday night they had to save Paige whose reckless plan to vanquish a demon on her own turned out to be a complete disaster and as a result she had been captured in the Underworld without any means to contact her sisters. After the hours of running and hiding in dark musty passages they finally found her and hardly avoided being killed - though it wasn't a real trap the demon had foreseen the possibility of their arrival. It was only thanks to the Power of Three that they had escaped, not to mention Phoebe's improvised spell. And only two hours later Paige came up with the idea of finding and destroying Bonk, the demon whose bloody victim list ran up to thousands! Since Prue's death Piper had never been so close to turning into a Fury again. She ran out of the room and slammed the door, the only plain thought in her head being to keep her hands in the pockets not to blow anything up. When the eldest Halliwell had finally calmed down it was already 4 a.m. and only 4 hours of sleep left. Wyatt wouldn't let her sleep any longer, no one but her in this house could prepare a decent breakfast for a 5-year-old. Piper walked into the kitchen irritated beyond all measure, only to see Wyatt orbing sweets to himself behind Phoebe's back. 'Phoebe! If you can't look after your nephew you shouldn't bring him to the kitchen! Now he won't eat his breakfast!' 'Oh honey, I'm sorry, but he's just impossible to keep an eye on. Bye, sweetie, I love you' one last glance in the mirror and the incomparable Phoebe Halliwell was gone to work.  
'You can't even imagine how much I love you' Piper hissed after her.  
She truly hoped nothing else would fall on her during the next hour - her patience was most definitely wearing thin. But this morning the world apparently wasn't going to leave the witch in peace. Just as she finally turned to the stove she heard the familiar tinkling behind her back followed by Paige's cheerful voice:  
'Hey, Leo! Nice to see you again'  
On top of all things... Paige must have noticed her sister's state because she added in a conspirational whisper: 'But you better call on later, Piper's really not in the mood today'  
But the man just couldn't leave in peace:  
'Anything happened'  
'In fact, yes' Piper's self-control came to an end. 'You've come here. What is it you want'  
'The Elders told me...' Piper stiffened. 'I was sent to tell you' he quickly corrected himself noticing her reaction, 'that a new power has come to this world'  
'Good or evil?' Paige was all business.  
'They don't know. It hasn't revealed itself yet'  
'Then what does it have to do with us'  
'You must find him... or her. And bring to the side of good, if possible'  
Paige frowned.  
'I don't understand. Do you mean this power... is a person'  
'Yeah' Piper replied all of a sudden. And continued bitterly:  
'Probably a child. Someone born with special gifts only to become another pawn in this play'  
She turned away to the stove abruptly. An awkward silence fell over the kitchen. At last Leo broke it:  
'No one can change the fact that this person has great powers. But you can help him or her to learn how to control them or...' he shot a glance at his ex-wife, '...or how to bind them'  
'And if he's evil we'll gladly assist him in getting rid of all this stuff,' Paige concluded. 'Great'  
'Anything else?' Piper asked without turning her head.  
'No, that's all'  
'Then you better go back... where you belong'  
For a second Leo seemed to be hesitating but Piper's cold voice didn't leave much room for discussion. With a heavy sigh he orbed out.

Little Pat's presence always had a wholesome effect on Cole, however nasty his mood might be, but that morning even the sight of his daughter's cheerful face couldn't abate the gnawing uneasiness. Her powers were starting to reveal themselves - the witch's ones as well as demonic, - she had already had several premonitions not to mention a couple of small fireballs which proved to be high-tension enough to set a chair ablaze. And as for shimmering... Cole suppressed a groan. Well, fortunately none of the upper echelons had noticed their little accidents... and not so little too... or so it seemed. He was almost sure that neither Elders nor Avatars and certainly not the Source would wait for Pat's powers to grow and rather try to get her as soon as possible. Suddenly he realized his daughter was asking something.  
'Uh? Sorry, Pat, I'm just sleepy'  
'What jam do you want - apricot or cherry?' the girl repeated with mock seriousness. She obviously enjoyed playing a cook and the earnest look she had while making sandwiches would undoubtedly win Piper's heart. 'Cherry, please, chef Turner'  
'Here.' It looked like Pat considered an air of importance to be a chef's distinguishing feature. 'I'm going to learn how to cook,' she stated firmly plastering jam on her piece of bread. 'Not only sandwiches but everything I like.' 'And when I grow up I will have my own restaurant,' she continued after a short pause, her bright blue eyes sparkling at the idea. 'And what about your dream to become a hairdresser?' Cole teased her. He liked it when Pat started choosing a profession, especially because of the wide range of her dreams. About a week ago she was wavering between the career of a hairdresser and a luring perspective of traveling around the world as a guide, and here is the fresh idea of a restaurant. 'I'll work as a hairdresser in the morning and then go to my restaurant,' she explained happily. 'And I won't have to choose'  
Cole smirked. His daughter's resourcefulness always surprised him. He only wished she'd never had to use it for running and hiding. And he certainly was going to do his best to let her avoid such a lot.

This is my first fanfic, pleeease, review! Should I continue? And I'm Russian so sorry in advance for all grammar faults!


	2. Not lost but found

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First of all, thank you for wonderful reviews, they give me courage to write. I don't know what I would do without you!  
Sorry, I quite forgot about some essential notes. Firstly, it is 

Disclaimer: don't own anything from the show, Pat and plot are my only property.  
... and secondly...

Summary: Cole's back from the Wasteland again, but this time it's not for Phoebe. The child that was vanquished in the 4th season was not a pure evil, her soul managed to survive and Cole brought her back to life. The whole Chris thing from the season 6 took place several years ago, but Chris didn't die. He became a whitelighter but the Elders forbade him to see the rest of the family. Leo's still an Elder and Piper's mad at him. Paige doesn't have a job, works as a whitelighter and auntie and sometimes likes to hunt demons. Phoebe's powers have returned, she has empathy, premonitions and levitation. The sisters still live in the Manor.  
Enjoy and, please, don't forget to review, I need this badly!

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…Having found himself in the Wasteland for the second time Cole Turner understood once and for all that he apparently was the Nature's worst mistake. Half-humans were not rare among demons but mostly their human part served only as a mask to hide their true nature; those endowed with a soul preferred not to roam about the Underworld - the human part didn't let their abilities develop properly and they usually ended up as petty criminals in the mortal world. He was an exception from the very beginning: not only hadn't his human half merged with Belthazor, but it also tried to fight the demon, and though each time Belthazor eventually managed to regain control, both parts were growing stronger. Despite this inner struggle he became one of the most powerful demons in the Underworld and more than once one gang or another tempted him to kill the Source and take the power. But he despised this scum and their machinations and chose the role of a skilled assassin along with a certain degree of freedom it provided. Belthazor and Cole had finally reached a kind of agreement: Belthazor killed when it was necessary to let Cole lead a human life in the rest of the time. And then the Triad hired him to kill the famous Charmed Ones. 

In the next two years he seemed to live a whole lifetime fighting Belthazor, turning into a mortal, being possessed by the Source and then vanquished, becoming the first creature ever to escape from the Wasteland, going mad, joining the Avatars and finally being vanquished again. Only one thing gave Cole Turner the strength to carry on all along and that was his love for Phoebe. The love that was the reason for him to sacrifice everything - his status, his powers, even his life. The love that he believed to survive everything. He proved to be wrong. Cole didn't blame his ex-wife for rejecting and vanquishing him - he was mad or possessed and certainly presented a threat to her and her family… But it still tore his heart. Ex-demon, ex-human, ex-Source, ex-Avatar - who was Cole Turner now? He couldn't be a full human - the void in him would always yearn for powers; and neither was he able to return to demonic ways. Too much had changed in him in these two years.

But whoever he was, Cole was not going to stay in the Wasteland and wait for the beast to find him. As a demon and as a mortal, as the Source and as a dead man, he had always been a survivor, at least, when sane, and wasn't going to give up now. He couldn't imagine his life without Phoebe but if there were no way back he would move on. And then all of a sudden his life took a totally new turn.

To kill the beast Cole definitely needed a plan, and to think of a plan he needed a break from running. This meant he had to find a hiding-place. Most caves weren't safe being either discovered by the beast or inhabited by other loathsome creatures, and the ex-demon - or whoever he was now - approached the entrances very carefully, straining all five senses to feel danger before it was too late. But certainly the last thing he expected to hear in this God-forsaken desert was a baby's cry…  
'Daddy!' For the second time this morning Cole was pulled out of his thoughts by Pat's slightly indignant voice. 'Weren't you listening to me!'  
'Yes, surely I was,' however sleepy he might feel there was no excuse for a father not paying enough attention to his daughter. 'You know, it's a bit stuffy in here, let's go for a stroll and I'll be able to listen to you more attentively.'

* * *

…… A little sandy-haired boy surrounded by a blue protection sphere is standing in the center of a dimly lit room and crying. All of a sudden five columns of fire flare up and disappear leaving five men in long black robes who form a pentagram. The men start chanting and as their voices become louder the child stops crying. Smoke is filling the room, its tendrils reach the boy who seems to be falling into a kind of trance. The men are chanting and the child's eyes are becoming darker… But a cloud of blue orbs suddenly appears at the entrance and takes the shape of two men and three women. The women start saying a spell while one of the men rushes to the child and orbs him out. Before the enchanters have time to react flames envelop them and a powerful explosion shakes the cave…….. 

Axara opened her eyes. So, one more plan was doomed because of the damn whitelighter. She counted on the Elders' pertinacity and conservatism that should make them send Christopher Halliwell back to the twisted future despite all the good he had done. But, surprisingly, this time pigheads chose not to stick to their precious rules and let the out-of-time guy stay, although forbidding him any contact with his family. But as far as she could see the man would be able to find out about the plot and save his brother one more time. That just wasn't fair! A man that wasn't even supposed to exist in this timeline screwed up, one by one, all perfect plans to bring an extremely powerful player over to the side of evil.

She turned around. A tall hooded man met her gaze and slightly bowed.

'What have you seen, oh Seer?'  
'Your failure.' Axara tried her best not to sound irritated. As a Seer she had to be cool and distant so that no one could suspect she took any interest in their schemes. Seeing the future was something none of demons had ever been able to harness so far and that's what gained her respect, or one may even say, reverence. Which was very useful for a wirepuller she was going to be.

'You plot will fail because of a certain whitelighter,' Axara stated looking straight at the man. 'Chris Halliwell. Get rid of him and most probably the plan will work out'  
'Of course,' she mused silently as the hooded figure disappeared in the darkness of the passage. 'There is another way. According to the Prophecy two powers will decide the fate of the world and this means one of them is still to be found. But it's always better to play safe. So while I'm looking for the second chance why not help them to take the first.'

* * *

'Chris! Chris!' a ginger woman yelled angrily, her hands on her hips. She was standing in the middle of a small room that looked… It was difficult to find a comparison but perhaps a chemical laboratory after a particularly unsuccessful experiment would do. The woman was just about to give another yell when an athame appeared out of nowhere right in front of her. She let out a shriek but an invisible hand immediately pressed the athame to her throat. 

'One move and you're dead' a low male voice whispered menacingly.

'What… What do you want?' she choked out.  
'I could say I want your powers as usual but I feel kinda truthful today, so let's just say I need your whitelighter's head on the plate'  
'He's coming,' another voice hissed.  
'Then we doesn't need her anymore, right?'  
And as blue orbs started forming a figure the woman's limp body fell onto the floor.  
'Joanna!'

'Not so fast, whitelighter,' Chris quickly turned around to face the owner of the voice and the black arrow shot through the air behind his back. The whitelighter gasped and fell to his knees as a searing pain burned his chest. Blood started to spill from the wound and his head went dizzy. Chris heard his enemy's footsteps approaching and found himself staring at the lowered crossbow.

'Well, well, what a nice little trap, isn't it? You whitelighters are so predictable! I'd prefer to let you die slowly but unfortunately the special order was to make sure you're as dead as possible. So, I'm deeply sorry but I truly have to cut the fun short. Adieu!' the crossbow started to rise slowly. Suddenly the its owner let out a cry of pain. Chris barely had time to throw himself down on the floor as the darklighter exploded. The sound of the second blast told him that Joanna's death was also avenged.

Pain clouded his mind and Chris couldn't even bring himself to sit up. He felt somebody dragging him up from the floor and taking to the sofa. In a moment of relief the young Halliwell opened his eyes and would have felt utter surprise if a new surge of pain hadn't overcome him.

'Uncle Cole…' he only managed to whisper. And everything went black.

* * *

'Piper! Paige! I'm home!' Phoebe called slamming the front door.  
'We're in the kitchen!' Paige sounded a bit over-enthusiastic and on entering the kitchen Phoebe realized why. The kitchen table was crammed with tens of potion bottles and at the moment her eldest sister was busy cooling a pot of another acrid-smelling liquid.  
'Wow! Are we going to war?' Phoebe asked cautiously.  
'In case you haven't noticed yet we're living in it,' Piper answered matter-of-factly. 'And another bomb is ready for a demon fascist that may dare to assault us.'  
'Why do you think we'll need all this?'  
'And who says we won't? Phoebe, I can't remember the last time we had a free-demon week off or a normal anniversary. And Paige's birthday's in a week that's why we'll most probably be busy soon.' Her voice began to ring with tension. 'And considering the information about the new power and the fact that we don't have any clue on how to find it...'  
'Wait,' Phoebe caught the opportunity to stop the outburst. 'What power? Did I miss something?'  
'We had a certain visitor this morning,' Paige explained giving Piper a sidelong glance. 'And he said that Up There they sensed a really 'gifted' person coming into power. So we have to find the guy, check if he's good or evil and act according to the situation, that means guide him if he's good and vanquish if he's evil. But the problem is we don't have a slightest idea on how to find him.'  
'Have you tried scrying?'  
Paige shrugged.  
'What's the use of it if we don't even know what sort of powers the guy has? And to look for any source of power in San Francisco…' 

'…means searching for a black cat in a dark basement. I got it. And what does the Book say?'  
'Absolutely nothing.' Chris' cry interrupted Paige. 'Oh, I'll get him.'

Phoebe opened her mouth but before she could say anything Paige was gone. For a few seconds the witch desperately wished she had Prue's power of telekinesis to drag her sister back to the kitchen but then plucked up all of her courage and turned to Piper. The eldest Halliwell was looking through the Book of Shadows, apparently in the search of another recipe.

'Piper, honey, calm down. You can't make a potion for every possible demon and the Manor is protected from shimmering and blurring. Besides, your children need a mother.'

But once Piper made up her mind it was hard to stop her. 'First of all, my children need to be safe.'

'That's why you have to calm down because you're not thinking clearly. To make this world better for Wyatt and Chris we have to find this person Elders were talking about, and to find this person we need all of our strength and knowledge.'

'Phoebe, what are you talking about? We don't know anything about him, anything, do you understand? And what if evil finds him first? What if he's already evil?'

'Well, maybe I will have a premonition…' Phoebe started hesitatingly and suddenly stopped. Her eyes widened. 'Wait. I have a brilliant idea. That's it!'

'Care to explain?' Piper couldn't help feeling interested despite herself.

'Prophecies. If this person is really so strong then there must be some sort of prophecy about him. Remember, our arrival was predicted and so was Wyatt's. I don't believe this guy could have slipped out.' Phoebe started pacing around the kitchen. 'Paige and I will go to the Magical School and look what we can find there and you…' she stopped and pointed at her sister, '…will put away all this stuff before someone pushes the table and our kitchen turns into debris'

'Okay,' for the first time since the beginning of the conversation Piper smiled. 'You're right, maybe I'm really overreacting. We may have a chance after all.'


	3. Logic and prophecies

Disclaimer: don't own anything from the show, Pat and plot are my only property.

Your reviews are my inspiration, I'm very grateful. Don't stop, please!

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Chris was slowly regaining consciousness. His chest was throbbing with pain, each inhalation seemed to be tearing his lungs apart and sent pang through his head. It hurt so badly that he almost wanted to faint again. An attempt to remember his whereabouts failed miserably - the last thing the whitelighter could remember was being summoned and then attacked. And Joanna's dead… For a second a pang of guilt made him forget about his wound. Obviously, it was a trap and he was their goal, not Joanna. She died only because someone wanted to get him. He should be dead by now… By the way, why was he still alive?

The sound of muffled conversation made Chris prick up his ears.

'Here. Now take a spoonful of this stuff… I know it stinks but when they didn't know aromatizers at that time… and spread it on the bandage… like that,' a male voice explained.

A child asked something unintelligible.

'I'd certainly do so if he was a usual man but remember, magic is not to be exposed to people. What if he suddenly orbs out or his wound starts healing up on its own? Besides, I don't think any human doctor knows an antidote for a darklighter's poison.' The voice seemed vaguely familiar…

And just as the man said: 'Okay, now let's check up on our patient,' Chris suddenly remembered what had happened.

By the time Cole entered the room, Pat following him closely, Chris had already managed to prop himself up on his elbows trying to look around.

'It's too early for you to get up,' the demon pointed out. 'And you better stay where you are. I'm not exactly an expert in medicine so if you get yourself some kind of complications don't count on me.'

'Cole…' A bandage was tightening Chris' chest preventing him from taking deep breaths but still it was difficult to talk.  
Cole frowned.  
'We'll discuss everything later. Now I need you to lie still so that I could check your wound.'

Chris obediently lay back and while the demon was preparing some paste and bandages the other had time to examine him closer. Cole Turner hadn't changed much since… or rather before Chris saw… would see… him last. Well, at least, he hadn't changed in appearance - unsurprisingly for a demon even considering his numerous deaths. But he seemed calmer, more relaxed. 'That's how it should be in this timeline,' Chris reminded himself. No one ventured to be relaxed when his dearest brother turned evil - it could cost a man his head. He and Pat had a hard time first trying to turn Wyatt back, then to strip his powers. Once Chris even seriously contemplated vanquishing his brother. He flinched inwardly. It was a really hard time. Pat dissuaded him from this desperate idea. Her father being an example of misjudging and quick death sentence, she believed that Wyatt hadn't turned evil willfully and that he had to be saved. It was she who first came up with the idea of time-traveling. Just the day before her death…

A sharp pain in his wound made Chris wince. Cole was cleansing the wound with some nasty-looking jelly.  
'That's what I call pouring salt into one's wounds,' the Halliwell grumbled in a mock complaint.  
'That's your witch's recipe, not mine,' Cole retorted. 'You should be grateful I'm helping you at all.'  
Chris grinned. His uncle's temper obviously hadn't mellowed, especially now that something seemed to worry him. 'Why, nothing to worry about,' Chris thought with a smirk, 'it's just a strange wounded whitelighter calling him 'uncle' on the couch in his parlor and, as far as I remember, an already powerful kid whom the absolute majority of the Under- and Upperworld would like to kill the moment they learnt about her existence. Everything's just fine!'

* * *

Phoebe suppressed a yawn and cast a sidelong glance at her sister who seemed as zealous as five hours ago. At the moment Paige was sitting on the couch, a particularly large volume on her knees, totally absorbed in reading. Heaps of other prophecy books covered the floor and one look at several neat piles near the table dashed every hope to finish with it soon. 

'Why bother living if everything was predicted hundreds of years ago,' the witch muttered. 'Paige?'

'Um?'

'Are you sure we'll find something?' Paige finally raised her head up from the volume and looked at Phoebe.'Well, we have to, otherwise Piper will go mad. Or you may have another brilliant idea so that we'll have every right to quit this bookworm business. Any suggestions?'  
'None at all,' admitted Phoebe wincing at the thought of Piper filling the whole Manor with potions. 'But what I know for sure is that we can't waste time here anymore. Look at this, Paige,' she waved her hand at the book heaps on the floor. 'We've scanned thousands of these damn prophecies and what's the result? They're all alike, predicting all kinds of great changes, but telling nothing as to when, where and how! And what's more important, who!'  
'Maybe that's what Elders are for,' Paige shrugged. 'After all, they're always the ones to come up with terrifying predictions that the universe, magic and all people on earth will die if we don't do something.'  
'But as far as I see they're trying to saddle their dirty work on us,' her sister concluded closing the book with an angry slam. 'That's ridiculous. I mean, we don't have a slightest clue what we're looking for'  
'Okay, don't fume,' Paige also shut her volume and leaned against the back of the couch. Despite all her stubbornness the witch was glad to have some rest. Besides, she couldn't help but think about one rather mundane way of search. 'Let's try a logical approach, just for once.'  
Phoebe raised her eyebrows in a silent question.  
'They say the person's coming into power, right?' After her sister's nod the witch continued: 'That means he or she is most probably a kid.'  
'Not necessarily,' Phoebe objected. 'We received the powers in our mid-twenties, remember?'  
'Yeah, but this is another case. Parents don't usually bind their child's powers out of the blue, on the contrary, they teach him how to use his gift. Besides, witches usually have whitelighters, so if the child was born to witches the Elders would know about him.'  
'So he's not a witch,' Phoebe agreed after a second's hesitation. 'What about demons?'  
'Demons are evil from their birth,' Paige reminded. 'They would have sensed it.'  
Phoebe looked away, suddenly feeling a pang in her heart.

'He may try to be good,' she replied in a low voice.  
'Phoebe, stop it!' the youngest Halliwell exclaimed. She threw up her hands in irritation. 'I can't believe that you, of all people, are saying this!'  
'Forget it,' Phoebe almost whispered. Will the pain never leave… 'However,' she continued, her voice firm again, 'you haven't considered the possibility of the child being given up.'  
Paige cast her a sidelong glance, suspicious of the quick change of mood, but answered nevertheless:  
'Yes, that's exactly what I mean. The person must have been given up for adoption and in that case neither he nor his parents would know about his abilities...'  
'…and Elders wouldn't know anything about him,' understood Phoebe.

'Just like they didn't know anything about me,' Paige finished. She grinned and assumed her best child-like manner. 'Am I not the most intelligent witch in this world?'  
Phoebe laughed. 'Of course, sweetie, you are. So, we have a full right to spit upon these stupid prophecies and look for an adopted kid instead.'  
'Actually, I liked some of those prophecies,' smiled Paige. 'Especially the one about children born to the greatest lovers who will define the fate of the world. It's so romantic.'  
'It is,' her sister agreed, also smiling, but suddenly paled. She felt a rush of panic, her heart thumped in her chest, but in a second everything was gone.  
'Phoebe? Are you okay?' Phoebe saw Paige's worried expression and smiled.  
'Yeah, everything's fine, it's just my empathy playing tricks on me again. Someone must have been pretty much scared around here.'  
Paige looked at her sister strangely.  
'The matter is no one's around here,' she said.

* * *

Axara stared absently at the ancient parchment lying on the stone pedestal in front of her. 'Two children born to the greatest lovers will define the fate of this world. The blessed and the cursed, bound by blood, the future of magic will hold.' She was almost sure, that the blessed one was Wyatt Halliwell, the son of a Charmed one and an Elder. After all, his power was immense and rumours about the love story of his parents filtered even into the Underworld. But the problem was she couldn't figure out the second person prophesied…  
She started pacing the hall. 'Bound by blood' most probably meant it was the child of a Charmed one - as far as she had found out Leo Wyatt didn't have any living relatives and neither did the three sisters. Phoebe Halliwell had already wasted her chance for the true love and with Belthazor vanquished she presented no danger. The youngest one, Paige, hadn't yet found her destiny and certainly had no children. Piper Halliwell… Well, she had another offspring - the same Chris whose alternate future self messed up with demons' plans so often - but he could hardly be called 'the cursed'. So, it looked like the whelp hadn't been born yet… But for some reason Axara wasn't sure. Maybe, it was her centuries-aged intuition or some kind of foreboding but she felt that situation was close to getting out of her control. Something was wrong.  
The Seer stopped abruptly. She used to trust her feelings and now they told her to check everything once more and very scrupulously. And the first place she was going to visit was the Wasteland.

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How did you like it? Isn't it boring? First fic, I'm so nervous! 


	4. It's all about Chris

Sorry for such a short chapter, but I've just started my university life and I'm kinda busy right now. Still, please, review, I really need your appreciation.

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Chris leant against the back of the couch smiling to his little cousin. He never knew Pat as a child but looking at her exuberant future self it was easy to believe it when she was saying that stubbornness and curiosity were Turners' family traits. Now he could see for himself how these traits used to show at the age of 5. 

'Are you a whitelighter?' Pat asked excitedly. She was sitting on the table near the couch, her legs dangling in the air, black curly hair disheveled, bright blue eyes radiating sheer delight with such an unusual visitor.  
'Yes, I am,' Chris answered grinning.

'And what are your powers?'

'Orbing, healing, ability to sense my charges.'  
'What's orbing? How can you sense them? Who are they? Why haven't you healed yourself?' the flood of questions was unstoppable.

'I'll show you orbing as soon as someone heals me.'  
Pat frowned.

'But aren't you already okay? We gave you the cure for that poison.'

'It's not enough.' They both turned as Cole entered the room carrying Joanna's book of spells.  
'We have to find another whitelighter to heal him completely,' he explained. 'The potion only remits the symptoms but they can exacerbate before long.'  
'Then we must go looking for a whitelighter,' Pat exclaimed jumping off the table and looking at Chris worriedly.

'Unfortunately, whitelighters don't usually roam about streets offering their services. But we may not worry for at least several hours, the potion will block any effect of poison.' Cole looked at Chris. 'But while we're talking you must be starving, right?' The look in his eyes clearly told that Chris had to be starving even if he didn't. 'Patty, make us some sandwiches, please.'

She seemed to be hesitating and Cole smiled at her anxious expression.

'C'mon, Pat, we'll find him a whitelighter, I promise. Now go, the guy's really hungry.' She nodded seriously and ran to the kitchen.  
'Now,' said the demon turning to Chris, 'you have five minutes to come clean with me so that I'd be utterly convinced that I want to help you. You know, I don't usually practice philanthropy. So the first question: how do you know me.'  
'Umm, it's kinda hard to explain…' but one glance at Cole told Chris that his uncle wouldn't appreciate evasiveness right now, so he quickly changed the tone. 'Okay, to put it briefly, I'm your nephew from the alternate future.'

'What?' Cole apparently was close to thinking it was a not so funny joke, so Chris hastily explained:  
'I came from my rather nasty future to change the past and stop some things from happening. After my mission was completed I had to be sent back, but considering the good I'd done and the fact that I got killed in the process, the Elders allowed me to stay here. But they forbade me to see mom and the others.'  
But such an answer could hardly satisfy his suspicious relative.  
'But what does all this have to do with me? I strongly doubt that we may share the same family tree.'  
'No. But my name is Chris Halliwell, I'm Piper and Leo's son, Pat is Auntie Phoebe's daughter, which makes her my cousin. And you're the father of my cousin, which makes you my Uncle. At least I used to call you that.'  
'How did it happen that you knew me?' Cole asked after a pause, a bit too nonchalantly.

'It was an accident.' At least one thing never changed in any possible future - Chris was absolutely sure what exactly the demon wanted to know. 'Pat and me had been friends for a long time before we learnt about our relationship. My father used to spend all the time Up There and only checked up on Wyatt from time to time, so you were closer to being my father than anyone else.'  
'And Piper let this happen?' Cole asked unbelievingly. 'She didn't even know where her son spent most of his time?'  
'She had much trouble with Wyatt,' however painful it was to think that his parents had paid more attention to his brother, Chris realized that it had been absolutely necessary and didn't blame his mother. She tried her best. 'Besides, mom had found out eventually. Of course, it was a bit of a shock to her to find you alive and with her niece but she learnt to trust you and kept your secret.'  
'Sounds incredible,' murmured Cole.

At that moment Pat came into the room carefully bringing a large tray of sandwiches. Or what she meant to be sandwiches…  
'I'm afraid at your time Patty was a somewhat more experienced cook,' Cole chuckled under his breath following his newfound nephew's puzzled gaze. 'But in the meantime you'll have to taste cheese with bits of cucumber and apricot jam. Don't worry, I ate something like this in the morning and I'm still alive.'  
'You survived two vanquishes,' the whitelighter muttered.

'And you're already dead, remember?'

* * *

'Look out!' Phoebe and Paige hardly had time to jump aside as a large energy ball hit the wall right where they had stood a second ago. Piper was standing in front of the Chris' crib, her posture alert, her hands lifted, obviously waiting for another attack. 

'What was that?' Phoebe asked, carefully popping her head from behind the crib.

'Some really annoying demon,' Piper answered, her attention still on the windows. 'Instead of coming in here so that I could blow up his sorry ass, he keeps sending energy balls through the windows.'  
'Have you seen him?' Paige inquired examining her bruise. 'We could find a spell to summon him right into the crystal cage. Anyway, why didn't you call Leo and ask him to take Chris to the Magic School?'  
'It looks like he's too busy to take care of his son. Heads down!' Another energy ball froze right in front of Paige. With a wave of her hand the witch sent it flying back where it had come from. A low curse was heard from the outside of the window and Piper barely had had time to react before three more balls were aimed at them.

'Okay, guys, end of fun. Paige, take Chris to the Magic School, then you and Phoebe go to the attic and find the spell for that guy, I'll try to hold him back till your return but hurry up, he may get bored.'  
'Piper! You mean we should leave you here all alone to freeze this stuff on your own?'

But once Piper made up her mind no one could stop her.

'Phoebe, I don't mean to spend another couple of days standing like that in front of Chris' crib waiting for an energy ball. Anyway, as far as I see, none of can help me with freezing this stuff. So, please, go!'  
Her voice held enough determination and Paige complied with an exasperated sigh.  
The sight of her sister orbing distracted Piper just for a second, but that was enough. A whizzing sound made the witch turn around quickly only to see an energy ball flying right into her. She tried to dodge the blow but then a sharp pain shot through her arm and she fell onto the floor, unconscious.

* * *

I don't know when I'll be able to post the next chapter, but the more reviews I get, the more inspired I'll be! 


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